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AbstractI investigate the consistency of agent-based computational models with the institutionalist research program as outlined by Myrdal, Wilber and Harrison, Hodgson and others. In particular, I discuss whether such models can be a useful heuristic for 'pattern modelling': Can they provide a holistic, systemic and evolutionary perspective on the economy? How can agency be conceptualised within ABMs? Building on these issues, I discuss potentials and challenges of the application of ABM in institutionalist research. This discussion also relates to recent methodological advances in neo-Schumpeterian economics. I explain how institutionalists can benefit from these and suggest areas for joint research under the methodological umbrella of ABM.

This paper discusses the actual relevance and historical origins or 'competition universalism'. In economics, competition is conceptualized as a nearly ubiquitous element of societies, or, at least, used to study a wide array of social and political relations, including competition between firms for market shares, between individuals for prestige, countries for resources, athletes for victory, or politicians for influence. This trend towards 'competition universalism' was facilitated by the increasing dominance of an economic approach that places less weight on descriptive accuracy and a consideration so socio-historical specificities, but instead focuses on the development of general and tractable mathematical models. Thereby, the paper links the trend to competition universalism to developments in the epistemological orientation in economics. It first explicates the historical genesis of competition universalism, then discusses the extent it has reached today, and concludes with critical remarks and the proposition of an alternative, more particularist approach to study competition.

This paper investigates the emergence of polarisation patterns in the EU during the last 60 years from a structuralist and complexity economics perspective. Based on the results, feasible opportunities for EU policy-making, which aim to counteract a tendency of polarization, are delineated. The study comprises of a historical analysis of the politico-economic events during this time and a complementary quantitative analysis of the European trade network. The results suggest that trade in the Eurozone is unequal at the expense of the peripheries and follows a pattern of "unequal technological exchange". The paper also assesses the usefulness of country taxonomies such as 'cores' and 'peripheries' for identifying the roots of polarization patterns. While it generally affirms the relevance of structural dependencies, and confirms the epistemic usefulness of country taxonomies, it also highlights three challenges - the challenges of dynamics, of ambiguity and granularity - that any such taxonomy necessarily faces, and which must be dealt with explicitly in any structuralist analysis using such taxonomies.

This paper investigates the emergence of polarisation patterns in the EU during the last 60 years from a structuralist and complexity economics perspective. Based on the results, feasible opportunities for EU policy-making, which aim to counteract a tendency of polarization, are delineated. The study comprises of a historical analysis of the politico-economic events during this time and a complementary quantitative analysis of the European trade network. The results suggest that trade in the Eurozone is unequal at the expense of the peripheries and follows a pattern of "unequal technological exchange". The paper also assesses the usefulness of country taxonomies such as 'cores' and 'peripheries' for identifying the roots of polarization patterns. While it generally affirms the relevance of structural dependencies, and confirms the epistemic usefulness of country taxonomies, it also highlights three challenges - the challenges of dynamics, of ambiguity and granularity - that any such taxonomy necessarily faces, and which must be dealt with explicitly in any structuralist analysis using such taxonomies.

Mit der zunehmenden Digitalisierung und Vernetzung ökonomischer Systeme haben plattformbasierte Interaktionsbeziehungen stark an Bedeutung gewonnen. Hier werden zwei oder mehr Nutzungsgruppen durch eine dritte Seite, die Plattform, zusammengebracht. Die Interaktion wird in solchen zweiseitigen Märkten von den Plattformbetreibern kontrolliert. Kreditkartensysteme, Softwaremärkte oder werbefinanzierte Online-Communities stellen typische Beispiele dar. Da die Analyse von zweiseitigen Märkten mit Gleichgewichtsmodellen aufgrund der algebraischen Struktur des Problems in der Regel nicht praktikabel ist, präsentieren wir im vorliegenden Beitrag ein agentenbasiertes Modell, welches in einem kürzlich erschienenen Artikel ausführlicher diskutiert wird. Anhand von illustrativen Beispielen verdeutlichen wir die Implikationen eines agentenbasierten Ansatzes für die Innovationsökonomik im Allgemeinen und das Studium von Technologieentwicklung im Besonderen.

This study discusses the challenges that economic policy-makers in Europe have to cope with, in order to ensure an economically prosperous and institutionally stable community of Member States of the European Union (EU). At the analytical level, we not only document a process of multi-dimensional polarisation of EU countries, but also link the existing economic divergences with a central long-term problem, namely structural polarisation: differences in the institutional and legal embedding (e.g. in the areas of tax and corporate law, the labour market or the financial sector) and in technological capabilities are a major driver of divergence in living standards between some Member States. This polarisation, which started even before the financial crisis but has intensified over the last ten years, is due largely to the global and the European "race for the best location". Without coordinated and cooperative intervention by economic policy-makers, a further drifting-apart of economic development paths seems unavoidable. The large differences in the production structures of the EU countries and the resulting highly unequal distribution of technological capabilities are self-reinforcing in nature, and will further intensify polarisation. The present study provides proposals for a coherent European overall strategy that not only addresses existing problems and renders possible the often-promised upward convergence between EU countries, but also provides a potential basis for dealing with key future challenges (such as digitisation, ageing society, climate change or global trade) on the basis of common European objectives. The focus is on safeguarding and expanding European values and institutions, in order to deepen European integration at key points; and thus also to contribute, in the medium to long run, to a transformation of the global economic order from the European side. A central argument is that coordinated measures in various policy areas - especially in wage, monetary, fiscal and industrial policy - are of central importance in creating a long-term successful economic basis for the common European economic and monetary area.

This study discusses the challenges that economic policy-makers in Europe have to cope with, in order to ensure an economically prosperous and institutionally stable community of Member States of the European Union (EU). At the analytical level, we not only document a process of multi-dimensional polarisation of EU countries, but also link the existing economic divergences with a central long-term problem, namely structural polarisation: differences in the institutional and legal embedding (e.g. in the areas of tax and corporate law, the labour market or the financial sector) and in technological capabilities are a major driver of divergence in living standards between some Member States. This polarisation, which started even before the financial crisis but has intensified over the last ten years, is due largely to the global and the European 'race for the best location'. Without coordinated and cooperative intervention by economic policy-makers, a further drifting-apart of economic development paths seems unavoidable. The large differences in the production structures of the EU countries and the resulting highly unequal distribution of technological capabilities are self-reinforcing in nature, and will further intensify polarisation. The present study provides proposals for a coherent European overall strategy that not only addresses existing problems and renders possible the often-promised upward convergence between EU countries, but also provides a potential basis for dealing with key future challenges (such as digitisation, ageing society, climate change or global trade) on the basis of common European objectives. The focus is on safeguarding and expanding European values and institutions, in order to deepen European integration at key points; and thus also to contribute, in the medium to long run, to a transformation of the global economic order from the European side. A central argument is that coordinated measures in various policy areas - especially in wage, monetary, fiscal and industrial policy - are of central importance in creating a long-term successful economic basis for the common European economic and monetary area.

Diese Studie diskutiert die Herausforderungen, denen sich die wirtschaftspolitischen Akteure in Europa stellen müssen, um eine wirtschaftlich prosperierende und institutionell stabile Gemeinschaft der Mitgliedsländer der Europäischen Union (EU) sicherzustellen. Auf analytischer Ebene dokumentieren wir nicht nur den Prozess einer multi-dimensionalen Polarisierung der EU-Länder, sondern bringen die bestehenden ökonomischen Divergenzen mit einem langfristig zentralen Problem in Verbindung, nämlich der strukturellen Polarisierung: Unterschiede in der institutionellen und rechtlichen Einbettung (etwa in den Bereichen des Steuer- und Unternehmensrechts, des Arbeitsmarkts oder des Finanzsektors) und technologischen Kapazitäten sind ein wesentlicher Treiber für eine Divergenz der Lebensstandards zwischen einigen Mitgliedsländern. Diese Polarisierung, die bereits vor der Finanzkrise ihren Ausgang genommen, sich jedoch in den letzten zehn Jahren verschärft hat, ist maßgeblich auf einen globalen und vor allem auch europäischen Standortwettbewerb zurückzuführen. Ohne ein koordiniertes und kooperatives Einschreiten der wirtschaftspolitischen Akteure ist ein weiteres Auseinanderdriften der ökonomischen Entwicklungspfade unvermeidbar. Denn die großen Unterschiede in den Produktionsstrukturen der EULänder und die damit verbundene höchst ungleiche Verteilung technologischer Kapazitäten haben selbstverstärkenden Charakter und würden die Polarisierung weiter verschärfen. Die Studie liefert Vorschläge für eine kohärente europäische Gesamtstrategie, die nicht nur bestehende Probleme adressiert und die häufig versprochene Aufwärtskonvergenz zwischen den EU-Ländern möglich macht. Sie bietet auch eine mögliche Grundlage, um zentrale Zukunftsherausforderungen (z.B. Digitalisierung, Alterung der Gesellschaft, Klimawandel oder globaler Handel) auf Basis gemeinsamer europäischer Zielsetzungen zu adressieren. Dabei stellen wir die Sicherung bzw. den Ausbau europäischer Werte und Institutionen ins Zentrum, um auf dieser Basis die europäische Integration an entscheidenden Stellen zu vertiefen und so mittel- bis langfristig von europäischer Seite auch zu einer Transformation der globalen Wirtschaftsordnung beizutragen. Ein zentrales Argument ist, dass koordinierte Maßnahmen in verschiedenen Politikbereichen - insbesondere in der Lohn-, Geld-, Fiskal- und Industriepolitik - von zentraler Bedeutung sind, um eine langfristig erfolgreiche wirtschaftliche Basis für den gemeinsamen europäischen Wirtschafts- und Währungsraum zu schaffen.

This study discusses the challenges economic policy-makers in Europe have to cope with in order to ensure an economically prosperous and institutionally stable community of Member States of the European Union (EU). At the analytical level, we not only document a process of multi-dimensional polarisation of EU countries, but also link the existing economic divergences with a central long-term problem, namely structural polarisation: differences in the institutional and legal embedding (e.g. in the areas of tax and corporate law, the labour market or the financial sector) and technological capabilities are a major driver of divergence in living standards between some Member States. This polarisation, which started already before the financial crisis but has intensified over the last ten years, is largely due to the global as well as European "race for the best location". Without coordinated and cooperative intervention by economic policy-makers, a further drifting apart of economic development paths seems unavoidable. The large differences in the production structures of the EU countries and the resulting highly unequal distribution of technological capabilities are self-reinforcing in nature and would further intensify polarisation. The present study provides proposals for a coherent European overall strategy that not only addresses existing problems and makes possible the often-promised upward convergence between EU countries. It also provides a potential basis for dealing with key future challenges (such as digitisation, ageing society, climate change or global trade) on the basis of common European objectives. The focus is on safeguarding and expanding European values and institutions in order to deepen European integration at key points and thus to contribute, in the medium to long run, also to a transformation of the global economic order from the European side. A central argument is that coordinated measures in various policy areas - especially in wage, monetary, fiscal and industrial policy - are of central importance in order to create a long-term successful economic basis for the common European economic and monetary area.

This paper analyzes the dynamics of structural polarization and macroeconomic divergenceinthecontextofEuropeanintegration,wherethelatterisprimarilyunderstood as an increase in economic and financial openness. In the process of estimating the dynamic effects of such an openness shock on 26 EU countries, we develop a taxonomy of European economies that consists of four groups: core, periphery, and catching-upcountriesinEasternEuropeaswellasfinancialhubs.Weshowthatthese four country groups have responded in a distinct way to the openness shock imposed by European integration and argue that the latter should be seen as an evolutionary process that has given rise to different path-dependent developmental trajectories. These trajectories are linked to the sectoral development of European economies and the evolution of their technological capabilities. We propose a set of interrelated policy measures to counteract structural polarization and to promote macroeconomic convergence in Europe. ; Refereed/Peer-reviewed ; (VLID)4898433 ; Version of record